Overwhelmed by New York, Underwhelmed by The Gates

As always, NYC was a vibrant flurry of activity with hardly a quiet moment. Christo's Gates were the impetus for the trip, but seeing friends was a close second. The weekend was spent running around trying to see people and things, and generally succeeding.

I guess that the only way that I will be able to write this post is to just come out and say that the Gates Project was, not disappointing and not bad, just underwhelming. It was pretty, and at times I would have the sensation that I was entering an orange tunnel in the midst of Central Park. However, I was never wowed by the construction cone orange banners hanging over the paths of the park. There was no sense of the vastness of the project. At no point could I see more than 50 or so gates (even from the roof of the Met), and the empty spaces of the park dominated the colorful gates despite their drab winter appearance.

While walking through the park, my friend and I were trying to come to grips with what bothered us about the whole project. We both thought that the gates themselves were pretty, and that the concept was interesting. In the end however, we realized the Gates were a piece of conceptual art that was layered on top of one of the most impressive pieces of urban landscaping in the world. The Gates simply did not do justice to the park itself. Olmstead planned the park, and to have someone else come in and layer their own work on to the land just felt cheap.

I am happy that I went because I don't think that I would have come to grips with Gates without having seen them for myself, but its funny that the pictures that I took of the Gates look much better than they did in person. If you missed them, don't worry, you can continue to sleep at night.